It’s always interesting to measure the lag between a very popular western pop song and the inevitable K-pop progeny. I’m not sure Lisa’s solo material can be considered “K-pop” given its language and her nationality, but you can definitely hear how new single Moonlit Floor echoes the approach of Sabrina Carpenter’s breezy global smash Espresso. Actually, the track reaches even further back in pop history.
The 2020’s have featured many big pop songs built upon past hits. Often, their choruses are a complete copy of the original they’re interpolating. Moonlit Floor is very much this. Its hook is lifted entirely from Sixpence None The Richer’s 1999 hit Kiss Me. I don’t know how many younger listeners will recognize this, but for me it makes the track feel like a cover… and not a particularly interesting one.
To make this approach work, Moonlit Floor needed to leverage its inspiration in surprising or creative ways. Unfortunately, the song simply surrounds its copy/paste hook with dull faux-disco, subdued to the point it nearly loses its pulse. We already have so much current music with this same arrangement – vaguely funky but sanitized to the point it loses all identity. It’s a “fine” track, but “fine” is the most dull, noncommittal thing you can be. Those words certainly don’t describe Lisa, so I’m a bit bummed she was saddled with something like this.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I needed to listen to lovelyz destiny(whole entire discography actually) after this because this song was very boring😍
6.75/10😍
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Just bad. The vocal just not supporting the music well in this track.
5/10
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It’s a good hook I see why they ripped it. I think it’s a brighter yet less effective version of espresso
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it’s so boring. I’ll be listening to rockstar and new woman instead
7/10 for me
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lovely song! i wish there was more going on other than the Kiss Me interpolation.
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This as a concept was a good pull but it did nothing to differentiate itself as a new imaging in any sort of interesting way. All I want to do now is listen to the original instead because all of Lisa’s other work has at least given an attitude or swagger while this might as well be something for a movie soundtrack instead.
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Rockstar is cheesy. New Woman is meh. Moonlit Floor is cringe. Lisa and her team are just releasing songs one after another to feel the market and the market doesn’t seem to show them any preferences. Even her “live” lip syncing performances don’t help.
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Wow, this requires more reasons to be considered a critique; otherwise, it may just be perceived as hate.
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I feel like it is more enjoyable for a younger audience that isn’t familiar with the original, the loft is too copy/paste for those of us who grew up with this popping up everywhere…
I do always enjoy Lisa’s tone tbh. She has a sweetness to it. She seems to be trying out different sounds, which is fair for a starting point. She can afford to experiment for her first album. Hopefully she will find her sound and vibe! I am rooting for her, she has stellar stage presence. She just needs to find her voice.
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It reminds me of Doja Cat.
Nothing wrong with that because I like Doja, but it does little to establish Lisa as a solo act
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They are being too reliant on her image and fans from BP. If they want to establish her (or any of the members) as bonafide soloists, the teams need to start from scratch and do enough of a rebrand so that people who have never heard of BP like their solo work. There’s just no artist development or branding going on at all. Dropping singles and moving on in a week or two isn’t going to work to get new fans. Take Lisa’s collab with Rosalia…. that shouldn’t have been released without a contract for a certain amount of live performances, ideally some like the upcoming Billboard LMA’s. There’s an opportunity to reach an entirely new audience that most likely would have been accepted too. For success in the US/West, music needs longevity or the artist needs an airtight development package, ideally both, but that just isn’t happening here.
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*sigh*
At least they credit the interpolation on the wikpedia page. But really this interpolation trend just needs to stop. If you are going to cover the song, cover the song. Don’t half cover it and make it sound shitty. Have any “interpolations” improved upon the original? Anyone anyone, Bueller Bueller?
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Sampling has yielded some great tracks, even in K-Pop (like IVE’s After Like). But I’m in the same boat as you with interpolations… at best, they generally just make me want to listen to the original song if it’s one I like. And more often than not, it sounds like two (or more) completely different songs smashed together with no thought of making a single coherent song out of them…. like out of place quotations to pad the word count in a college kid’s midterm paper.
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100%. Interpolations aren’ t a shortcut to a great song (sometimes I feel like producers think they are) – they’ re not easy to do well. Either cover the song, or actually put in serious effort to make it interesting!
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Okay singer, good rapper, great dancer/performer…dull song
6.5/10
A few years ago, solo LISA seemed like a great idea. I’m less sure now. Still kinda like New Woman, though 😇
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Agreed, but I’d still give her a chance.
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👍👍
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For the life of me, I don’t understand Lisa’s team’s approach to her solo career, and it’s becoming more of an example of why a big agency (or occasionally someone who has built an image independently) is so important for branding and success. She’s dropped 3 songs, some with massively expensive MVs, production teams, and prerelease adverts, but with no plans to drop a full album, it feels like most of these expenses are just going down the drain. The marketing is still very much “K-Pop” in that the releases are built on prerelease hype, assuming fans will do the heavy lifting on release, dropping some online content for a week or two, and then moving on. Mainstream success in the West is built far more on longevity… radioplay, streaming pushes, doing the talk show and late night performance rounds, and making a song inescapable often tor months after the release. None of that is happening here. With no album forthcoming, these songs don’t even add to the marketing for a bigger project. New Woman seemed to start potentially building Lisa as an artist, but there was next to no follow through after dropping it only to switch gears again to focus on this (this song was so omnipresent for years growing up that I can’t not think of it as a cover) feels like two steps back.
From Madonna to Britney to Billie to even Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, you know what to expect from their music, image, and performances. Lisa has no branding as a soloist. That’s not saying all her releases are bad, but they are very scattershot/see what sticks, and together they give no clear indication of artistic direction or the all important branding. I wonder if Rosé, who is planning to drop an album in December, and Jennie, whose first solo release is about a week away, will suffer similar problems. If they want to connect with new listeners and make it to the mainstream, their teams need to build branding packages or consistent artistry that is more than just “a member of BP” and fully reliant on their fandom for plays. In a way, all of this feels a bit like a Twilight Zone version of the typical “break away from Disney/Nickelodeon image and become a ‘real’ artist.'” 😹
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Of the BP, I would predict that Rose’s album might be the best, as she does her little guitar thing with her characteristic voice.
Lisa so far isn’t using her best asset: that she is a hell of a dancer. She should be putting out dance floor banger after dance floor banger, go all Ibiza club style.
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Agreed. I think Rosie has the best potential to make it in the West, but I do think it will take a big streaming and radio play push plus the TV rounds to do it. Even if they just tap into a niche market first, she can build from there. But the quick timing for her album release (2 months away) seems like it will be a rush if the plan is for a rebrand and not just tapping into the BP fandom for sales/streams. Hopefully they will continue promoting her album with pushed singles after it drops, since it’s really longevity that is needed to gain new fans. To an extent, it is or at least should be, treated like developing a totally new artist.
😹 I had the exact same thought about Lisa, especially while watching the VMAs. For the imagery and artistry that went into her MVs, it was a very uninspired stage set up. Most idols still seem to deliver performances domestic year end award shows (while prioritizing the camera over the audience) for their major US performances. Why labels and agencies aren’t working with people responsible for past successful stages at these events is beyond me. What I kept thinking of with Lisa was actually Britney’s iconic Oops I Diid It Again performance. That is absolutely something that Lisa would be able do phenomenally well, and delivering a performance like that can change someone’s entire career trajectory. All it really comes down to is the staging, set directions, a surprise/unexpected moment people will remember, and really spotlighting what the artist does best (dancing in this case). People talk about lip syncing or other trivialities, but down the road, what’s people remember how you made them feel above anything else, and that generally doesn’t come across unless the artist has a chance to really be in their element. Her song releases should be worked around her dancing, not vice versa, and have more visual marketing, imo.
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Replying to all – I left the word “Best” with respect to Rose’ deliberately vague, but for my own leaning I mean the most musical, suitable to their own personality, with “quality”.
(Leaving “quality” vague here, again.)
Streaming is not necessarily an indication of quality, just an indication of how many fans have too much time on their hands, usually a indirect indication of the average age of the fandom. Sales indicate how many covers and re-packages the marketing team have crafted that the stans will stand to buy.
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Rose’s solo songs were so boring though. But I do like her album solo Hard To Love a lot. The thing with Rose is, she seems super sweet and all but the way she sings annoys me so much. The way she phrases a lot of the words just annoys me..
The only solo songs from Blackpink I like are the ones from Jisoo and You & Me by Jennie. I also enjoy Jisoo’s voice a lot. The other songs they did aren’t my cup of tea but I find most of BP’s discography to be quite horrible anyway (no hate but I just can’t even call it music). However, sometimes they made great stuff like Playing With Fire.
Anyway, it’s all about popularity anyway. Their fans don’t look at quality at all, they stream everything like it’s the greatest thing ever so I think all the girls will do fine.
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I’m in the same boat when it comes to their group and solo music direction. Most is… garbage and very much thrived in the moment, but imagine several years down the road once their fandom has moved on, people will look at their (very short and trend driven) discography and wonder why they were so popular. There are a few gems in there, but not more than what the average group puts out in 1 – 2 years or so, not 8 – 9. The reason I can see Rosé doing the best in the West is because out of all the girls, she will need it the most to maintain her relevancy, so that could translate into properly promoting her material in the US (with the bonus of being a native English speaker as well).
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i believe LISA, Like her fellow BP Queens is working on releasing a full album/EP 🖤🩷
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I mean, Lisa has never been for me. This isn’ t changing that even though I enjoy the sound more than something like Rockstar. She has personality, though, and it’ s not being used here. This song feels like literally anyone could’ ve sung it.
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Lisa’s biggest assets are her stage charisma and dancing. They really should be going with songs that let her capitalize on those and marketing them more visually, imho. The downside to stage presence is that when she’s uncomfortable while performing, you can even feel it through the screen. If something gets her new fans, it will be her performance capabilities (which is pretty much what they did with Britney back in the day). But she needs the songs and opportunities to support that.
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I think her music is horrible (I don’t hate Lisa, I just really dislike her music as I do with most of Blackpink’s music because it’s just not my thing) but this song is pleasant to me. Of course she had to use another song for it (Kiss Me, like Nick mentioned) but I enjoyed this song. However, if I didn’t know this was Lisa I think I would not have recognized this as her, maybe because it’s so different from her other songs.
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Oh dear. It doesn’t help that the original “Kiss me” is one of my favourites, with that unusual chord progression it’s got. And “Espresso” is my favourite western song from 2024 (so far).
I can surely “jam” to this one, it’s well produced, but as a song? I can’t believe they can’t find anything better for Lisa 😦 “Rockstar” wasn’t the song of the century but I prefer that one.
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